‘Don’t Get In The Car’ Review
Stars: Jennimay Walker, Noel Gugliemi, Mike Ferguson, Emma Julia Jacobs, Erik Aude, Curt Lambert, Alex Urbom | Written by Clarice Paris, Staci Laine Wilson | Directed by Clarice Paris
Whilst headed to work at her waitressing job, Tara (Jennimay Walker) receives a phone call that will change her night completely. You see, on the other end of the phone is Vince (Noel Gugliemi), Tara’s “employer” in another life, who informs Tara that she needs to find her sister and fast. And if she doesn’t? Well, Vince’s henchman Nico (Mike Ferguson) has taken Tara’s daughter and babysitter hostage and for them to survive the night, Tara must kill her sister for Vince.
Vince also tasks her with acting as his driver for the night, roaming the streets for Vince’s customers, picking them up in her Lincoln, forced to do errands for some of the scummiest people on the planet – rapists, killers, hookers and more. All of which makes Tara’s evening an absolute misery… Though she doesn’t have as bad a night as Tara’s babysitter, who’s soon a pawn in Vince’s maniacal plan.
Tara eventually finds her sister and negotiates her sister’s life for her daughters. However there’s a twist in the tale that reveals just why Tara stopped working for Vince and why, unlike her sister, Vince has never come for her in the five years she’s been out of the family business. Oh, and did I forget to mention the FBI is involved in everything too – with Tara’s sister working as an informant AND Vince knowing that fact too!
Yes, as you can probably tell, there are a LOT of plot threads running throughout Don’t Get In The Car. A lot. Some with backstory that we’re not told about, some we can figure out for ourselves; so much so that it never really gets too convoluted and spoil the core story. What DOES spoil the story however are Tara’s passengers – the scumbags that get in the Lincoln. Some of the performances from those individuals are dire. Like almost turn off the film dire. There are two characters especially that are so bad they almost… almost… ruin the entire film. Seriously.
Eventually the film wraps everything up in a neat bow, in just under an hour without the final credits. For yes, this film doesn’t drag things out ad infinitum and make the audience’s night as bad as Tara’s, even though at times it FEELS that way!
And that’s the thing, there’s a really good story buried with Don’t Get In The Car‘s 62-minute running time and the concept – one night in a car with an unwilling heroine is fantastic, it’s just both are hampered by some bad performances. And the film’s best performer, Noel Gugliemi (The Fast and the Furious, Mayans MC), feels wasted on the end of the phone as the film’s antagonist Vince. In the final fleeting moments of the film, as Vince comes out of the woodwork to come face to face with Tara, it’s clear adding more of Gugliemi’s performance to the film would have worked wonders.
As it stands though, Don’t Get In The Car feels like a good idea but a wasted opportunity.
